By Rick Palsgrove
Southeast Editor
Eddie Bauer will cut 315 jobs from its operations in Groveport in 2016, but city officials said the city is seeing other commercial growth that offsets this loss of jobs.
Groveport Finance Director Jeff Green said that, even after the job cuts, Eddie Bauer will still employ approximately 900 people at its 2.2 million square feet facility located at 6600 Alum Creek Drive.
“Eddie Bauer handled call center and distribution for Express under contract. That contract ended,” said Green. “The jobs that are being cut are those jobs that were specific to the Express operation. Eddie Bauer is not leaving Groveport. They like it here.”
According to Green, Eddie Bauer plans to cut 116 jobs in the call center, 195 in distribution and 4 IT positions that were specific to Express. He said the layoffs are expected to begin on April 18.
When asked how much income tax revenue per year the city of Groveport stands to lose by the loss of these Eddie Bauer jobs, Green said, “We don’t have a number for this yet.”
Green said other potential commercial projects planned for Groveport should offset the loss of income tax revenue from the Eddie Bauer job cuts.
“We currently have three projects pending,” said Green. “The jobs created by these three projects should more than compensate for the loss of the Express jobs.”
According to Green, one of these pending projects involves Bell Incorporated, a manufacturer of cardboard boxes (such as cereal boxes), which will occupy the 130,000 square foot building at 6300 Commerce Center Court. Green said the company is expected to bring 175 “higher paying” new jobs to the city. Green said it is not yet determined how much income tax revenue these jobs will bring to Groveport. On Jan. 11, Groveport City Council approved a tax incentive agreement with Bell Incorporated which gives the company a 35 percent credit toward its withholding taxes for the next seven years.
Additionally, Green said Kenco, a logistics company, will bring 63 jobs to Groveport in the spring. He said the city is also working on landing another unnamed company that could bring another 100 jobs to the city.
